Process of oxidizing borneol to camphor.



at a temperature from to 60 0., and

: adopted.

UNITED s ATEs PATENT ()FFIGE.

GEZA AUSTERWEIIL, on NEUILLY, NEAR PARIS, FRANCE.

- PROCESS OF OXIDIZING IBOlRiNEOL TO CAM PHOR.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GiiZA Aosrnnwnrn, a subject of the King of Austria-Hungary, residing at Neuilly, near Paris, in the Repub lic of France, have invented a certain new and useful Process of Oxidizing Borneol to I Camphomof which the following is a specification;

The conversion of borneols into camphor by oxidation with nitric acid is known. This method has in practice been generally A mixture offuming and concentrated (40 B.) nitric acid has also long ago been proposed as the oxidation medium. In this process the use of fuming nitric acid is troublesome. The following process may be employed for avoiding this drawback.

Air or oxygen is blown into asuitable mixture of borneols and isoborneols and. more or less concentrated nitric acid (preferably one part of borneol or isoborneol to 1-1- or two part-s of nitric acid at 3740 Be.) after the addition of small quantities of vanadic acid, or otvanadium'pentoxid or vanadic salts, such as sodium vanadate for instance, the mixture being maintained the heating preferably taking place under a reflux condenser. The time of blowing in oxygen is limited by the complete conversion of borneol into camphor; it is of two hours for one kilogram of borneol, and

I changes with the amount of borueol entering into reaction.

The process may also be employed with advantage in mixtures of borneols and isofenchyl-alcohols, the iso-' fenchyl-alcohol in the presence of vanadic acid being regularly oxidized to fenchon. (Fenchon from a physical as well as a chemical point ofview is, however, extremely closely allied to camphor and may be employed without disadvantage in the manufacture of celluloid.) The oily liquid is Specification of Letters Patent. Patnf ed Dec, 20,1910, Application filed December 8, 1908. Serial No. 466,562

separated partly from time to time, and

added to a solution of alkaline reaction, a carbonate for instance. Then the camphor the usual manner. The camphor-may also be precipitated by pouring the oilyi liquid into an alkali. I I

Example: 1 kilogram of borneol is put by little quantities into 155 kilograms 0f nitric acid'of 37- to 38 Beaum. The temperatureismaintained between 35 and C. 2 centigrams of ammoniummetavanadate are added to the acid. Then, from time is driven away with steam, and refined in,

to time some part of the resulting oily liquid poured' into alkali, and the camphor driven 'oif with steam. ;To the remaining mixturev of acid and the oily liquid, some fresh borneol is added and the process carried on in the described manner.-

' The. process may also be modified by adding borneols or isoborneols to an anode of vanadium pentoxid or its. compounds,

using nitricacid or nitrates as .an elec-v trolyte and simultaneously blowing 'air through the anode chamber. This process, however, is not specifically claimed herein,

being claimed in a separate application for patent. v

Having now particularly described the nature of my said inventionv and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is The process of converting borneols and isoborneols into camphor which consistsin V oxidizing them by treatment with a reagent comprising v'anadic acid in presence of nitric acid and blowing oxygen through the mass.

In witness whereof, Isubscribe my signature, in presence of bWOWltIlBSSQS.

. GEZA AUSTERWEIL.

\ lVitnesses: 

